


The One With the Lies

by Alex_is_On_Fire



Category: Friends, Friends (TV), Friends TV
Genre: Bad Guys Made Them Do It, Blood, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Crimes & Criminals, F/M, Faked Death, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Fucked Up, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, Injury, Just Really Weird, Lol He's Not Really Dead, Love, M/M, Major Character Injury, No Smut, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Character Death, Secret Identity, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 20:08:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9287807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alex_is_On_Fire/pseuds/Alex_is_On_Fire
Summary: It's a stormy night, it's freezing, it's raining; so what's a guy doing in a white t-shirt with no jacket?Joey's on the run, and it's up to Chandler to help. Except, does Chandler know?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is darker than the others I've done, okay? So if you're expecting pouting, and constant cuddles, you're in for a shock.
> 
> Of course, there will be pouting and cuddles... just among a bit of crime and violence, that's all.
> 
> Please don't hate me, haha.
> 
> But this one is gonna be longer! It's not a one-shot; more chapters will be added very soon.

The dark haired man gasped for breath as he leant against the cold brick wall of the alleyway. Hearing the sirens come closer, he ducked behind a dumpster until the flashing flights flew by. He let out a sigh of relief, straightening up and rolling his shoulders, wincing as he finally paid attention to his aching muscles. He removed his now ruined black leather jacket, throwing it aimlessly into the dumpster and covering it with a load of rubbish. He frowned as he looked down at his ripped white t-shirt, a few blood stains in places, holes here and there revealing painful looking scrapes on his skin.

Fuck, his favourite white t-shirt, too.

He sighed, running a shaking hand through his dripping wet hair as he stumbled to the end of the alleyway, glancing left and right down the street before deciding on going right.

The man walked for quite a while, luckily not catching sight of any cops, before finding a cosy looking cafe and slipping inside. He pulled the small amount of change he had out of his pocket and counted it; $12 exactly. He needed to save what he could, but he guessed he deserved a coffee and a sandwich, at least. He thought about sitting at the counter, but decided against it and went to sit at a table instead, weaving around the sofa in the middle of the room. The waitress soon walked over, her fake smile simply getting on his nerves, especially after the day he’d had.

“Hi! May I get you anything?” She chirped. He tried to force the corner of his mouth upwards in order to seem somewhat friendly, but her smile dropped slightly so he probably just looked annoyed. Which he was, so that was understandable.

“Can I have a coffee and a bacon sandwich, please?”

“Sure, coming right up.” She didn't show her teeth as she strutted away.

The dark haired man rubbed his arms, the warm air of the cafe not doing anything to increase his body heat. Or at least wasn’t helping him feel any warmer, and the goosebumps on his skin were still as obvious as a load of hay in a stack of needles.

The man's eyes drifted across the cafe, taking in as many features about the place as he could. He'd always done that; it was what he'd been taught to do. He noticed the way the couple in the corner were on the verge of breaking up, judging from the fact that the woman had her hands under the table and still had her bag on her shoulder, obviously about to break up with the guy and leave, who had his hands stretched out in front of him, nearer to the woman's hands that his own body with his coat off and a lovestruck grin on his face. Poor guy, obviously thinking they would be there for a while, based on the face that he'd taken his coat off and they hadn't even ordered yet. The dark haired man glanced away. Continuing with his scan of the room, he caught eyes with a man sat across the cafe on the sofa with a blonde haired girl. His cheeky smile caught the man’s attention, his milk chocolate brown hair styled in a way that screamed ‘cool nerd’, and not that he’d known previously that combination ever existed. This man changed his mind.

The dark haired man smiled slightly, not showing any teeth, but just enough to let the other man see a glance of his dimples. He knew he had charm, at least a little bit. Or at least he looked shy and cute, he guessed. And it worked. The other man came wandering over a few minutes later, hands in his pockets, shuffling over as if he was still trying to decide whether to approach the man but it was already too late; he was closer to the other guy's table than his own. Time for the dark haired man to be… not himself.

“Hi, you look a little cold. Mind if I sit?” The nerdy looking guy gestured to the empty seat opposite the man, who nodded. “I’m Chandler, you have a name I can call you?”

“Joseph.”

“Joseph…” Chandler tested the name on his tongue. “Really? You don’t seem like a Joseph.”

“I go by Joey.”

“That’s more like it.” Chandler grinned. “Nice to meet you, Joey.”

“You too.”

“Don’t speak much, do ya Joey?”

“Not really. Not too good with words.” Joey shrugged casually.

“That’s fair enough, I guess. May I ask why you’re out in this kinda weather with only a t-shirt on?”

Joey looked down at himself, hoping he looked like he’d only just noticed what he was wearing.

“Oh, yeah.” He trailed off. “It’s been kinda a long day.” He gestured to the blood and holes in the shirt. Chandler frowned.

“Too personal to tell?”

“Oh, I got kicked out and then mugged of everything I owned, no big deal.” Joey waved his hand. The waitress chose this moment to walk over, putting the sandwich and coffee down in front of Joey. “Thank you.”

Joey took a big bite of the sandwich, chewing quickly. He would have tried to be more polite to Chandler, but he hadn’t eaten all day and he was hungry. The sandwich was gone before Chandler even spoke again. Joey pushed the plate forward, pulling the mug of coffee towards himself instead. Chandler blinked slowly, thinking over everything in his head.

“I know this sounds… weird, to say the least. But do you have anywhere to stay? Only, I saw you counting your money before and if that’s all you have, you’re kinda screwed, man.”

“No, I don’t have anywhere. I literally have $12, $7 after I’ve paid for this, and the clothes I’m wearing now.” Joey faked a short laugh, which Chandler smiled sadly at. He cleared his throat.

“Would you maybe wanna crash at my place for a while? I have a spare bedroom and I’m looking for a roommate anyway and it wouldn’t be too weird I don’t think, and I know we only just met but trust is something we can build and I wanna help you because you seem nice and-“

“I’d love to, Chandler.” Joey interrupted Chandler’s rant, letting his teeth show in a smile for the first time.

“Really? Awesome! Uh, my friends are sat right over there, d’ya wanna come say hi? Three of them live in the apartment opposite me and the guy lives in the apartment block across the street.”

Joey looked over and noticed another blonde woman, a dark haired woman and a dark haired man had also sat down at the sofa in middle the of the cafe, and that they were trying to be subtle at glancing over and failing miserably.

“Sure.” Joey picked up his coffee mug and followed Chandler over to the table, standing slightly behind him as they stood near the friends.

“Hey guys, this is Joey. He’s my new roommate. Joey, this is Rachel, Phoebe, Monica and Ross.” Joey waved slightly.

“Hi.”

“Awe, he’s cute.” Rachel smiled. “Hey, Joey. Come sit down.” Chandler slid onto the sofa next to Ross and gestured for him to take the seat near him, on a chair next to Rachel. Joey sat down, fiddling with his coffee mug. He hoped his persona was working. It was, going by Rachel’s comment.

Joey was grateful to Chandler for not telling everyone that they’d only just met and the circumstances in which they had met. Not that Joey would ever tell Chandler the real reason he was in the state he was, but he figured his story was solid enough to not be thought over too much, thus revealing the lies.

“So, where do you guys actually live?”

“Literally a block away.” Monica answered. “It’s a nice place, you’ll like it there.”

“Ah, cool.”

A silence fell over the group as Joey sipped on his coffee, a few worries popping into his head.

“Hey, Chandler?”

“Hm?”

“Do you know anywhere that I’d be able to get a job? I can’t pay you for rent or anything…”

“Don’t worry about that for now.” Chandler dismissed him. “We’ll find you a job, don’t worry. But until then, don’t worry about anything monetary. We’ll go shopping and buy you some new clothes, toiletries, that sort of thing. If you really want to, you can pay me back at a later date. Simple.”

“Only if you’re sure.” Joey replied, still feeling slightly guilty. Joey knew he was a bad person, but Chandler was a good guy, and he didn’t want to screw the guy over. Or his mates. Joey was more of a… screw the bad guys over kinda guy.

“We should head back. Baywatch starts soon.” Chandler jumped up from his seat, grabbing his coat from the stand near the door. “Wear this, you’ll freeze. And you’ll catch a cold, your hair’s damp.”

“No, that’s okay. It’s your coat, I don’t want you to get co-“

“Take the damn jacket, Joey.” Chandler chuckled, wrapping the coat round Joey’s shoulders, who faked a sigh.

“Thank you, Chandler.”

“No problem, Joey.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any feedback, please let me know. I've never written anything like this and I like the idea of taking the characters out of their story-line comfort zone. Some little facts will be stretched slightly, for example Joey's family and obviously the Joey we know isn't a criminal... or is he?
> 
> No, but please just let me know how I did.
> 
> -Alex


End file.
